Gilbert Tangonan Abunaga
Image Credit: FACEBOOK: Gilbert Abunaga
January 26, 2023 - 6:00 AM
A Vernon man who cut a hole in the drywall of his room and then filmed his roommate naked pleaded guilty yesterday to charges of voyeurism.
Gilbert Tangonan Abunaga, born in 1980, stood in the Vernon courtroom Jan. 25, having the proceedings translated by an interpreter.
Abunaga, who is originally from the Philippines, admitted that over several months in 2020, he filmed his roommate naked in her room without her knowledge.
The court heard that in September 2020 the roommate was strolling through Facebook when she found that Abunaga had posted a 10-second video of her to his Facebook page.
The video showed her naked in her room applying lotion.
The roommate immediately contacted the RCMP.
The RCMP searched the Vernon property where they both lived and found a hole cut in the drywall near the vent that connected Abunaga's room and his roommates.
Two of Abunaga's cell phones were seized and more videos of the roommate naked were found.
Abunaga was then arrested and charged with making available intimate images without the person's consent, recording a person where they could reasonably have expected to be nude, and sharing a video while knowing an offence was committed by obtaining the video.
It appears Abunaga planned to fight the charges and plead not guilty as his case was recently transferred to the B.C. Supreme Court.
However, the case didn't go to trial and was dealt with in the provincial court where Abunaga pleaded guilty.
The court heard how Abunaga hadn't posted the video to Facebook himself but had left his phone open and the video easily accessible. During a night of drinking with friends, one of them got hold of his phone, found the video and posted it to Facebook.
While Abunaga planned to plead guilty to two of the three charges, B.C. Provincial Judge Richard Hewson questioned the charge of making available intimate images without the person's consent asking the lawyers whether Abunaga had made the video "available."
The judge pointed out that when he takes a photo on his phone it automatically appears on his laptop. He asked whether this would be classified as "transmitting" or "making available" an image.
The question appeared to baffle the Crown and defence lawyers.
"I'd also submit that Mr. Abunaga recklessly left his cell phone around where there was other people present... therefore making intimate videos... available," defence lawyer Dominique Verdurmen told the judge. "The facts support that."
The Crown echoed Verdurmen's comments.
"I respect he wants to plead guilty, but I'm just not sure that what he is admitting is a crime," the judge said.
The judge took no issue with the more serious charge of voyeurism, and the court was adjourned for Abunaga to undergo a psychological assessment and be sentenced at a later date.
The lawyers will then have more time to argue whether Abunaga "made available" the video or not.
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